People purchase elastic party balloons for decorating at parties and the like. After purchasing the balloons, the two main steps in forming them are 1. Inflate the balloon and 2. Tie the balloon. The market currently has pumps available to inflate the balloons with ease. But, a device to tie the balloons is not readily available. Today most people who are not able to blow up a balloon can purchase and own a balloon pump. But, people who have trouble tying balloons can not easily purchase a balloon tying device. Balloons are normally tied by wrapping the balloon around your pointer and middle fingers. Then, trying to tuck the end between the two fingers to close the loop and make a permanent knot. The elastic material the balloons are made of makes this very difficult usually resulting in fatigue, sore, even bleeding fingers. People usually end up frustrated and helpless. There is a need for a hand held device to make tying balloons less painful. The present invention is simple and fills the need of the consumer whether young or old to be able to tie a balloon with ease and without damaging the balloon.
A noteworthy hand held device patent is U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,950 issued October 1996, which is a Hand Held Balloon Tying Device that is a non-reversible u-shaped device with a single one-sided retaining edge. U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,267 issued April 2003 is Balloon Tie-aiding Device with two parallel finger-like supports with no retaining edge that is clamp mounted. U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,906 issued February 1991 is a Device For Tying An Elastic Balloon that is a tank mountable bracket, which holds the balloon neck while the end is stretched and tied. U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,051 issued March 1999 is a Knot-Tieing Device And Method Of Knotting Therewith that is flat with a trapezoidal shaped opening. This device is held between the thumb and index finger, which could be unsteady when tying the balloon on the opposite end. Some devices to aid in balloon tying that have patents are U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,785 issued July 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,217 issued May 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,142 issued August 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,578 issued March 1997. All of these patents are hand gripping devices that have a slot at the end. These devices do not easily facilitate tying a balloon. All of the above devices are different from the present invention. The present invention overcomes the above mentioned patents' shortcomings by providing for a balloon knot tying device with two rods that have a continuous retaining edge, reversibility, tapered ends, frictional side surface, and a relief area. The invention is also attached to a handle that is gripped or a ring shaped device, which allows a steady hold when tying a balloon. The present invention also aids in tying a balloon at the normal position it would be tied on the fingers. The rods are now taking the stress load that the fingers normally would take during the balloon tying operation. The base can be used with a ring shaped device that the fingers slip through or can be mounted to a grip handle that is held in the hand for people who cannot slide the device comfortable over their fingers to tie a balloon.